Petrochemical city embraces greener future

Traveling by ship on the Yangtze River, tourists see fewer smoking chimneys in the riverside city of Anqing, Anhui province.

Though some of the chimneys remain on the northern bank of the river, where the urban area is located, others have been moved to a zone for petrochemical companies, several kilometers away from the river. Those were replaced by modern office buildings, which offer more space for new industries.

Anqing's economy had been dominated by petrochemicals. Data provided by the local government show that the industry contributed more than 46 percent of the city's industrial output value in 2014, when it recorded a value of 73.1 billion yuan ($10.6 billion) and a GDP of 154 billion yuan.